I MADE the call last week on these pages that Nemo Rangers would win the 2026 Cork premier senior football final. I won’t lie, the more the week went on, the more I started to doubt myself.

The Barrs were the reigning champions. They are a bigger, more powerful side than Nemo with three players in Ian Maguire, Brian Hayes and Steven Sherlock who, at their peak, are each almost unstoppable. There’s also their experienced, resilient defence and pace in the likes of William Buckley and John Wigginton-Barrett. At their best, they would take some beating.

But they didn’t bring their best, not enough of them anyway, while Nemo produced a classic Nemo team performance to control the majority of what turned into a superb contest, winning 1-19 to 2-12. It was another club classic in Cork to add to those provided by these two and Castlehaven over the course of a decade of dominance.

That decade since we in Carbery Rangers claimed the title in 2016 has seen Nemo win five titles, with three for the Barrs and two for Castlehaven. They are the top team of the last ten years, which is some going for a squad that has been undervalued by almost all of us outside the club during that whole timeframe.

The difficulty for this group was illustrated at half-time of the final when the 2001 Nemo Rangers team was presented to the crowd, with a veritable who’s who of Cork and Nemo football royalty in the line-up. That team won three-in-a-row between 2000 and 2002, before finally winning the All-Ireland club title on St Patrick’s Day in 2003. After a whole two years without success, the core of that group would return to win four-in-a-row between 2005 and 2008, and another Cork crown in 2010.

Eight titles in 11 years, with six Munster titles and an All-Ireland to boot, that is the barometer for those who don the black and green.

If we add 2015 to the mix, some of the current Nemo group have six Cork championships and two Munster titles to their names in 12 seasons. Not quite as good, admittedly, but far from shabby all the same. Micheál Aodh Martin, Alan O’Donovan and substitute Conor Horgan are the only three stalwarts who saw action in 2015 and 2026 finals. That in itself shows Nemo’s ability to reinvent themselves and to bring through new players.

Some of those new players picked up their first county medal on Sunday, and they all played their part in earning it. This team may lack the superstars of yesteryear but there is no bad footballer in their ranks either.

Mark Cronin is their marquee county forward now that Paul Kerrigan finally seems to have done enough – I wouldn’t entirely rule him out yet though, he did play intermediate earlier this year – while Martin in goal, in addition to Kevin O’Donovan, Kieran Histon, Stephen Cronin and Jack Horgan add significant experience and leadership. Histon, for his part, did the unthinkable in keeping Sherlock scoreless from both play and frees on the day. I’d love to know when was the last time that happened?

Alan O’Donovan and Briain Murphy were awesome at midfield and pretty much divided the man-of-the-match vote between them. I would have gone for Murphy, for what it’s worth. Ronan Dalton is Cronin’s most experienced compadre in attack, and they are surrounded by the next Nemo generation in Ross Corkery, Bryan Hayes, Conor Shalloe and goal-scorer Luke Horgan. This mix of youth and experience was continued in their subs introduced with Neville O’Shea and Dara O’Sullivan joining now six-time winner Conor Horgan in coming off the bench.

All 18 played their part but the midfield duo and Mark Cronin were the star turns on the day. Alan O’Donovan got the official man-of-the-match award and he has been an outstanding leader for Nemo around midfield since he moved there from wing-back a few years back. He had another superb battle with Ian Maguire, who was good again for the Barrs but not as dominant as he so often is. Murphy did a great job spoiling Hayes on the Barrs’ kick-outs, helped his defence brilliantly, carried a world of ball out from the back to always find a team-mate and got forward to kick a super two-pointer when they needed it.

For the Barrs, Maguire and Hayes had their moments but lost the midfield battle over the hour. Hayes alternated between midfield and the forwards over the game, and pounced on a defensive mix-up for a second-half goal and produced some nice assists by hand and foot, but as in the hurling was not at his very best. Newman had no chance with the Horgan goal, but came under pressure on his own kick-outs, also having a couple of short kick-outs picked off by Nemo forwards when the game was in the melting pot in the second half.

In front of him, Sam Ryan held his end up and Ciaran Doolin was probably the pick of the bunch overall for the men in blue. He made several fine breaks forward and placed Wigginton-Barrett for his second-half goal. Up front, Buckley and Wigginton-Barrett caused a good deal of trouble for the Nemo defence, and Luke Hannigan made a couple of fine catches. Cillian Myers Murray also made an impact from the bench with a booming two-pointer while he could also have had a goal when his shot whistled just wide of the post. All in all, too many in blue did okay, but not quite enough.

Nemo now head for the Munster campaign with a renewed pep in their step and they will face Tipperary champions Loughmore Castleiney on Sunday week with home county advantage. Dr Crokes will be favourites for the Munster crown but Nemo never lacks confidence when they hit the trail outside Cork. Some of the senior stalwarts mentioned earlier will be looking to add a third Munster medal to their lot to close the gap to the legends of 20-odd years ago. They won’t be favourites, but you can never count them out.

Carbery GAA Chairman David Whyte presents the Liam Nolan Cup to Clonakilty captain Ciarán Crowley after they won the Bandon Co-op JBFC final in Skibbereen on Sunday. (Photo: Paddy Feen)

Elsewhere, the Bandon Co-Op Carbery junior A final was postponed in very sad circumstances and we offer our condolences to the family and the wider Barryroe community. The game is scheduled for this Sunday, again in Castlehaven.

Clonakilty’s second team had a facile 7-18 to 2-12 victory over Clann na nGael in the Carbery junior B final and they will now compete at a rather more suitable grade for 2027. The relegation picture will be confirmed by Carbery GAA in due course, but I understand Ballinascarthy may be in peril? There are a lot of variables in the relegation from junior A. Too many, perhaps.

Finally, congratulations to Canovee after they held on for a one-point win over Cobh to claim the premier junior title and promotion back to intermediate ranks. In truth, it was a poor game that did little to warm up those of us being cut in two by a cold wind in the top tier at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. That said, Canovee won’t care and I don’t blame them. We didn’t care in Ross when we won the County Junior A title in November 2003 while also only scoring ten points.

The Cork football landscape was very different then, with only three tiers from senior to junior A where there now is six. Some may lament the loss of lustre for the county finals at the lower grades, but the overall picture is far healthier. I would suggest that we can always consider tweaks and small changes, but I am a fan of the current club scene in Cork, if you didn’t know already.

Congratulations again to Nemo Rangers, kings of Cork football for the 24th time. In a season where a number of possible contenders looked like they might threaten the status quo at various times, it is the most successful club of them all who prevailed when all else had fallen. Good luck to them in the Munster campaign.